The invention relates to a pressure-connecting terminal that allows pressure-connecting blades thereof to rip off the insulating layer of a sheathed wire to be connected to the conductor of the sheathed wire by press-connecting the sheathed wire into pressure-connecting slots thereof.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional pressure-connecting terminal 10 disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei. 4-15159. The pressure-connecting terminal 10 is designed so that pressure-connecting blades 10d and pressure-connecting blades 10e rip off an insulating layer 11a of a sheathed wire 11 to be connected to a conductor 11b of the sheathed wire 11. That is, the sheathed wire 11 is laid horizontal between a pair of side walls 10c so as to be press-connected from above, the side walls 10c being bent from a bottom wall 10b of a pressure-connecting portion 10a so as to confront each other. As a result, the pressure-connecting blades 10e that form a U-shaped pressure-connecting slot 10f while bent inward from the side walls 10c and the pressure-connecting blades 10d that form a pressure-connecting slot 10g while bent inward from the bottom wall 10b rip off the insulating layer 11a to be connected to the conductor 11b.
However, the conventional pressure-connecting terminal 10 addresses the inconvenience that the power of the pressure-connecting portion 10a for holding the sheathed wire 11 is reduced. That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, if a tensile force F is applied in an axial direction from the sheathed wire 11 to the pressure-connecting blades 10d, 10e that have bitten into the sheathed wire 11, e.g., as in the case where the sheathed wire 11 is pulled in an-axial direction with one end of the sheathed wire being fixed by the pressure-connecting portion 10a after the sheathed wire has been pressured, the pressure-connecting blades 10d, 10e are bent or fallen off, and such deformation of the pressure-connecting blades 10d, 10e leads to the aforementioned reduction in holding power.
To overcome this inconvenience, one may increase strength by increasing the thickness of the pressure-connecting terminal 10 or by providing a reinforcing member that bridges between the bent inner sides of the base portions of the bent pressure-connecting blades 10d, 10e. However, if the thickness of the pressure-connecting terminal is increased, the weight of the pressure-connecting terminal is also increased, whereas if a reinforcing member is arranged, the problem that the manufacturing process becomes complicated in the sense that a separate reinforcing member must be additionally provided on the small-sized pressure-connecting terminal 10.